Warehouse 13: (Part IV) Good dog, Bad dog
by A Rhea King
Summary: When Pete let wrongfully imprisoned genies go, something dark and evil remained. Now the team is discovering it wants out, and it will destroy anyone close to Pete to do it.
1. Chapter 1

**Warehouse 13  
Good Dog, Bad Dog**  
By A. Rhea King

* * *

A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: 'Inside of me, there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.' When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, 'The one I feed the most.'  
―_George Bernard Shaw_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Warehouse 13**  
**South Dakota**

"Inventory day!" Pete called as he came through the door into the office.

Right away Claudia, Steve, and Myka glared at him. He smiled, presenting them with a box of donuts.

"Which is why I brought sugar and lots of it – except for you, Mykes. Spoiled sport." He produced a wrapped granola bar from his back pocket.

That earned him forgiveness. The four dug into the breakfast and the box was half finished by the time Artie arrived. He stopped, staring at the box.

"Jelly roll," Pete pointed to the powdered one in the corner. "I didn't forget you."

Artie snatched it up without as much as a thank you.

"You're welcome," Pete said.

"We have a lot of work to do for the next few days. Let's get to work." He handed out a box of pens and pads of paper.

"Uh-uh. I got a better way," Claudia told him. She reclaimed his boxes and went to a box sitting behind Pete. She handed out tablets and stylus. "This way, everything is automatically uploaded to the computers and you, dad, won't get upset when there's two of everything due to my fatigue and your lack of bringing me a steady flow of caffeine. The App is simple. You enter your aisle, row, and shelf number, it gives you a list. If an artifact is there, you click the check box. If an item needs added, you click new, it asks for the information we need, you fill it in. If it's missing…"

"No writer's cramp this year," Myka said. "Thank you Claudia."

"No problem." She smirked at Artie. "Someone said it wouldn't work."

"Go. Get to work you four!"

They headed out the back door, talking as they left. Artie stood for a moment, listening to their voices disappear. He looked down when a cold wet nose pressed against his hand, and smiled at Trailer.

"Yes. The kids are gone. Do you want to go with them?"

Trailer wagged his tail.

"Well go on. Go." Artie pointed out the door.

Trailer dashed after them. Artie smiled as he sat down at a computer. He leaned back in his chair, munching on his jelly donut.

"I'm catching up," Myka called out.

Pete ignored her.

"I'm going to be on that row any minute now."

"Shoosh you!" Pete told her.

She side stepped, getting closer to the row he was working on.

"Hey, just cuz you go all Speedy Gonzalez on inventory, doesn't mean you need to rub it in," Claudia called out from somewhere else in the Warehouse.

Myka laughed.

In the distance they heard Steve add, "Is Myka gloating again?"

"Yes!" Pete and Claudia said.

"We should bronze her!" Steve called out.

Pete and Claudia both laughed, but Myka just shot Pete a dark look. Pete's laughter died as his head began to ache. He looked away and then rolled his head back and forth a few times.

"Done! I'm going to lunch." Myka announced.

"I hate you!" Claudia called out.

"You love me and you know it." Myka walked away.

Pete stopped working for a second to massage his left temple. These sudden, short lived headaches were getting annoying. He didn't tell anyone, but he did get a physical and the doctor ordered a CAT scan. He was fine – well, aside from the fact he was still a living artifact. He was beginning to wonder if that was behind the headaches.

"I'm starving. I'm going to take a break for lunch too," Claudia called out.

"Okay," Pete replied.

"Do you want anything?"

"Ham and cheese, and fries."

"Got it. Jinks, you want something for lunch?"

"I'll go with you," he called. He was closer. "I'll meet you outside."

Claudia appeared at the end of his aisle. "Be back in an hour."

Pete nodded. She disappeared again. Alone in the warehouse, Pete was left to his own thoughts. He was so distracted by his own thoughts that, like all the previous times, the event nearly went unnoticed by him.

Pete looked down at the tablet. He placed it on the shelf and froze. His breathing stopped. His heart stopped. For two seconds he was frozen. His eyes rolled back and the air hummed with the sound of electricity. His heart restarted, followed by his breathing. With stiff movement, he walked down the aisle. As he passed metal artifacts small bolts of electricity leapt from him and zapped the artifacts.

"Pete, I just realized I forgot to give you a message," Myka called out.

She came around the corner in time to see Pete turn down the next aisle. She trotted after him.

"Pete."

Myka caught up to him. "Hey. Genna called after you left for your jog and asked if you could come over for dinner. She said there's been some strange things happening around her house."

Pete didn't respond.

Myka reached out, touching his shoulder with her fingers, and was zapped. She jerked back.

"Must be a buildup in this area. Pete, did you hear me about Genna?"

He didn't answer.

"Pete, come on. You know I just move fast. It's nothing to give me the cold shoulder over."

Pete turned down a row and she glanced up at a sign as they passed: Speak to Artie before activating genie vessels.

"Pete, you aren't supposed to be in this row. Not until we—"

Pete stopped at the end, turning toward the empty vessels on the opposite side. He reached out and picked up a glass bottle with a glass stopper. He turned and started walking again, holding the bottle in front of him like an offering.

"Pete, what are you doing with that?"

He didn't answer. Myka jogged around in front of him, stopping in his path. She was shocked. He was pale, his lips were blue, and his eyes had rolled back. He didn't stop walking toward her. When they were about to collide, a jolt of electricity leapt from his chest and threw her out of the way. Myka hit the wall and then the floor. She quickly picked herself up and ran after him. She fished her cell phone from her pocket and dialed.

"Lost again?" Artie asked.

"There's something wrong with Pete."

Sounding tired Artie asked, "Is he mad you finished before him again?"

"No. He's pale, his lips and fingernails are blue, and his eyes are rolled back in his head. He acts like he doesn't hear or see me. He also shocked me when I tried to stop him. He went to the genie aisle and picked up one of the empty vessels, one we freed a genie from. I'm following him still."

"Where are you at?"

"I don't… I have no idea. These shelves back here are empty. I don't know where we are."

"I do. Stay with him. I'm on my way."

Myka hung up.

"Pete," she said again. "Pete stop walking and look at me."

He stopped walking. Myka stepped around him as he turned to face the wall. Then she saw it. There was a padlocked door that covered the bottom of a ladder – it was a back way out, but only Artie and Claudia had the key to it. That apparently didn't stop whatever was in Pete.

He put his hand on the lock and it clicked. Pete pulled the lock off, pulled the latch away, and hooked the lock on the hoop. Then he started climbing the ladder faster than she'd ever seen Pete move up a ladder.

"Pete!" Myka grabbed his belt, trying to pull him back.

Electricity sent her flying back. She picked herself up and looked up. He was half way up the ladder. Myka grabbed a rung and started climbing. She glanced back down when she heard a soft squeak and found Artie at the bottom of the ladder. He sat in his cart, staring at them – there wasn't much else he could do. She looked away, following Pete. He was already at the top. She hurried as fast as she could on the vertical climb. The ladder came to a platform. She stepped off and ran into the exit tunnel to catch up to Pete. He was just exiting the tunnel when she finally saw him.

Myka dashed out, almost running into him. He stood outside the door, muttering something under his breath. Myka watched his face. In the sunlight, he was so pale his veins were visible. Pete pulled off the stopper and a blackness began to rise from it.

Myka grabbed the stopper from him and slammed it down on the blackness, closing the bottle back up. Pete grabbed her hand and jolts of electricity shocked it. She gritted her teeth, determined to keep whatever was in the bottle inside. The jolts intensified but she held on. Pete let her hand go and grabbed the bottle with both hands. He squeezed until it burst.

"PETE!" Myka cried out, watching a black cloud fall out of the bottle.

It stopped above the ground and grew four feet tall. A face took shape in the cloud, one she recognized. The face looked at her, grinning like Gollum.

In a raspy voice it told her, "I won't forget you, sweetie."

It laughed sadistically as it bolted into the sky and disappeared.

She jerked back when Pete moved. He crouched, putting a hand on the ground before him. The ground trembled and beneath his hand a deep hole opened up. He dropped the part of the jar he held into it. The pieces of the broken glass vibrated and started zipping into the hole. Myka moved fast, snatching up the pieces she could. But the glass was determined to go into the hole, and slipped through her hand, slicing it as they escaped. The hole closed up.

Pete returned to the tunnel. She followed him back inside, back down the ladder, to where Artie was waiting. Pete walked past him. Myka climbed in the golf cart next to Artie and he followed at a distance behind Pete.

He noticed blood dripping from his hands, and glanced down at the blood dripping from Myka's hands.

"What happened to both of your hands?" Artie asked.

She noticed blood was dripping from his hands. Her own hands were bleeding.

"He broke the bottle to let it out," Myka answered.

Artie turned the cart around and followed beside her. "Let what out?"

Myka handed him the pieces she'd managed to save and then pressed her hand against her shirt. "He let out whatever else lives in genie vessels. The thing in the dark. That bottle was the one Turk Kiser was in. You remember him? The blonde man from Russian who told us Rasputin cursed him when he attempted to tell the Czar about Rasputin's plan."

"I remember."

"This thing, whatever it is, took on his face and… It escaped."

Artie looked at her. Then her hand she was holding.

"What happened to you?"

"Pete opened a hole in the ground and all the glasses pieces were called into it. I grabbed what I could."

"He called the glass into the hole?"

"Yes."

Artie didn't ask any more questions.

Pete returned to the row he'd left from. He faced the shelves, staring at them for a minute.

Artie stopped the cart in the next row and they watched.

Pete held up his hands and the wounds closed. The droplets of blood on the floor rolled along the cement floor, finding cracks to disappear. With no evidence left on him that something had just happened, Pete picked up the tablet and stared at the screen. For several seconds he was frozen like that. Suddenly Pete animated and resumed doing inventory. He didn't notice Artie and Myka.

"We should tell him," Myka said.

"Tell him what, exactly?" Artie looked at her. "Pete, your eyes go white, you release something from the genie vessels into the world, and we don't know how to stop you or why you're doing it?"

"He's an artifact."

"Which has no bearing on this."

"You don't know that."

"I know that, Myka. We are not telling him anything. Do you understand? Not until we know what to tell him."

"Hey," Pete called.

Both looked up. He finally had noticed the two were there and stopped working. Myka forced a smile.

"I haven't gotten to that row yet," Pete told Artie.

"Oh. Yes. We were just discussing a discrepancy Myka found," Artie lied.

Pete looked confused. "She didn't check that row. It's on my list to check."

Myka looked up and faked surprise. "Oh. Yeah. Artie, we need to go over another two rows. Guess my mind was on _something else_."

Artie laughed it off and drove away before Pete could ask questions. Two aisles down and four rows away Artie stopped.

"I want you to grab Claudia when she gets back, go down to the genie aisle, and move all the empty vessels to an unmarked location. Don't tell me where they are, and don't put it in the computer."

"He may still find them."

"We have to try something, Myka."

She frowned, but she did see the point.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Genna's House**  
**Univille, South Dakota**

Full of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad, Pete sat back in his chair and laid his hands on his stomach.

"Where did you learn to cook like that, Genna?"

He smiled at the young woman sitting across the table from him. She looked like she was in her teens with dark brown hair, a heavy set brow, and a strange beauty to her. She wore a sinew necklace that was older than time but a memento she never went anywhere without. She was the first genie Pete ever released, and he revered her like a daughter, sometimes even telling people she was.

"Master Chef, Iron Chef, other shows with Chef in the name," Genna said with a smile. "You just like it because there's no one to cook at the bed and breakfast."

"Maybe. Or maybe I just like it."

She laughed.

"I bought a pecan pie. Want some?"

"Do you have to ask?"

She got up and picked up their plates, disappearing into the kitchen behind him.

"I thought you were busy this week with work," Pete said. "You told me you were when I asked if you wanted to go see that new Fast and Furious movie."

She didn't answer. He decided to wait until she came back. She returned with two plates of pie and forks, and refilled Pete's glass with milk. She sat down again. He was two bites into his pie when he noticed she was picking at her pie.

"What's wrong?" Pete asked.

She kind of shrugged.

"Boy problems? Do I need to kick someone around for you?"

She smiled a little. "Maybe." She looked up at him. "I keep seeing someone outside my house at night. Last night I saw him and I ran outside with a flashlight and…" She gnawed on her bottom lip a moment. "It was you."

Pete cocked his head. "What?"

"It was you."

"When?"

"Tuesday."

"Uh-uh. It wasn't me. I was in Calgary from Monday to Wednesday."

"It looked like you."

"But it couldn't have been, honey. I wasn't here."

"That's what I remembered. And then I noticed how he looked." She visibly shuttered.

Pete pushed the plate aside. "Aside from resembling me?"

She nodded.

"How did he look?"

"Pale like he was dead, and I could see black veins. He was dressed in all black. And he was smiling."

"Smiling?"

She nodded. "But it was really creepy, Pete. It was like he was a lunatic or something. And then he ran at me. So I ran back inside and locked the door. Something hit several times and then stopped. When I looked…" She wiped her tears with her hand. "When I looked in the morning, the door was bent on the outside. It looks like the Hulk punched it."

He stood. "Show me."

She led him out to the back porch, turning the outside light on. She pointed at the dent in the door. "That wasn't there before Tuesday, when something hit it."

Pete crouched, looking at the door. The dent was focused on one spot, almost like Zeus himself had been punching it with one fist.

"Have you seen him since?"

"No."

Pete stood up and put his arm around her. She threw her arms around him, pressing her face against him.

"Will he come back?"

"I don't know. I don't know why he came in the first place."

"Could you stay for a few nights?"

"Yeah." Pete kissed the top of her head. "Let's go back so I can get some clothes and then I'll camp out on the sofa."

"There's the spare room, and—"

"If he comes back, I'm going to shoot first, ask questions later."

She smiled, hugging him. "Thank you."

Pete nodded, but he was worried about that door. Would a bullet actually stop someone who could put that kind of a dent in it?

**JANOUSEK RESIDENCE  
Prague, Czech Republic**

Steve trailed behind Claudia. They had broken into a house outside of Prague to get to an artifact and he was not comfortable with the idea of them being caught. It was taking forever because she was stopping to spritz everything with neutralizer.

"Hurry up," Steve whispered.

"I'm trying!" Claudia whispered back. "This would go faster if you'd go look in the other direction."

"I am not leaving you in a house we just broken into in a foreign country. If nothing else, I can slow them down."

"Them who?" She turned to him.

"I don't know. It was a vague them."

She gave him a look.

"Fine. I'll go upstairs and look. Don't let your guard down."

"As if!"

Steve turned and headed for the stairs behind him.

Claudia continued her search and spritzing. She passed a closet with the door partially opened and spritzed a statue. Sparks erupted. She turned to yell for Steve but her surprise stopped her.

Pete stood behind her, but her instincts screamed that this was not her Pete. In fact, she wasn't entirely certain this twin of Pete was even human.

His hands hung at his sides and they had thick, disgusting fingernails. His eyes were black pits that reflected nothing, not even the light from her flashlight when she shone it on his face. His skin was pale white and his veins were black and visible under it. Even if it hadn't been for his frightening appearance, his huge devil-like grin would have been enough.

She was only able to yell 'S' before this crazed Pete doppelgänger snapped his hand around her throat and shoved her against the wall. He pushed her up so her feet weren't touching the floor and she was choking. He leaned close, watching her with his black pits.

"Ooooeee!" he sung out to her, grinning more. "You've got a fight in you, little girl. Show me all of it."

She smacked at his arm and face, kicked him in the stomach, legs, and groin with her knees and feet, but he was unmoving. Clearly this thing did not feel pain.

Her ears began to ring and feel full. Her eyes tingled and even in the dark house the edges were getting darker. She wanted desperately to breathe. Suddenly she was slammed to the floor and let go. She looked up, but he was gone.

After several croaking attempts she screamed, "STEVE!"

#

Steve turned, hearing Claudia scream his name. He took two steps toward the bedroom door when it slammed shut. The shadows to the left of it moved and he heard clothing rustle. From the darkness a woman separated. In the dark room he couldn't see her face, but she had long dark hair, and it looked like she was wearing all black – maybe a cat suit? She walked toward him with sharp steps, each foot coming down hard on the floor almost like a model would walk.

"Who are you?" Steve asked.

"Who am I?" she repeated. Her voice was familiar.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"What _do_ I want? Who are _you_?"

Steve raised his Tesla pistol and fired. It shot through her – and that's when he knew he was in deep trouble. Steve lunged to dart around her.

Something grabbed his ankle and yanked. He landed hard on his chest and face, feeling the floor sting both. He turned to kick her away, but she wasn't there. He jumped up and an arm grabbed him from behind. He was thrown against a wall. She came out of the shadows again, faster than he could move, and landed on him, shoving him to the floor with one hand around his throat. Steve struggled, but her grip only tightened. He clawed and punched, but even though it felt like he was hitting someone, she didn't flinch. He tried to throw her off balance, or simply off of him, but she was much heavier than she looked and she wasn't easily moved.

"What have you got for me, my dear?" he heard a voice that sounded like Pete ask.

He tried to look, but she had him pinned. He watched a dark figure walk around them and crouch next to him. A flashlight came on, shining on the person's face. He was blinded for a moment before he could see Pete's face, grinning like a lunatic. He tried to say his name but her strangle hold cut off any sound.

"Are you the one?" Pete asked him.

Steve couldn't scream when pain seared his throat and arm where her other hand was. He could smell burning flesh as the pain intensified until he passed out. The Pete look-a-like stood up and the woman stood up with him.

"Neither of them are the one?" she asked.

He grinned more when someone pounded on the door. "Not even close."

The door burst open as the two turned to black clouds and slipped out an open window. Claudia stared where they went.

"Steve?" she called.

She turned on a light and saw him lying on the floor. She ran over to him, dropping to her knees. A third degree burn was forming on his neck in the shape of a handprint. Another was around his arm.

"Steve, wake up. Steve!" Claudia shook him. "Please, Steve, wake up."

His eyes fluttered open.

"I need a hospital," he whispered.

"Okay. Let's get out of here."

Claudia helped him to his feet and they hurried out of the house.

"The artifact… We'll come back for it." Steve told her.

"I bagged it before I came looking for you. We're good."

He barely nodded and then laid his head against her. "Who were they?"

"I don't know. I don't want to know."

Claudia flagged down a taxi and managed to communicate they needed the hospital.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Lorne Psychiatric Hospital**  
**Lorne, Manitoba**

"I don't think this is it," Pete told Myka.

She looked at the map in her hand, shining her flashlight along a road. "Did you make the left turn when I told you to?"

"Yes, but Myka… I really don't think this is the right place."

She lowered the map, staring at the building they were approaching. It was a massive structure that made the already dark sky even darker. Pete slowed the rental car to a crawl.

Myka looked at the map again. Then she pulled out her notebook and looked her notes.

"All of the kids we interviewed said that they were chased by a woman with a knife from this building. If Molly Justice's thimble is anywhere, it has to be here."

Pete let the car roll to a stop. They were at least six hundred yards from the building, but he'd stopped at the gate. One side had fallen off, probably back into the vines and weeds that were reclaiming the wall as part of nature's turf. The other side hung on its bottom hinge. But it was the sign beyond that he'd focused the headlights on: Lorne Psychiatric Hospital. And scrawled across the sign was: EVERYONE'S DEAD.

"Ominous," Pete sung out.

"Pete!"

"How many horror movies have you seen start out just like this? Creepy crazy building, people go in just to look around, people end up dying starting with the cute blonde, followed by the person of a minority ethnicity, and then the sports star. And since we're out of cute blonds, that leaves you, and I'll be next because we have no person of minority ethnicity."

"Pete!"

"Okay. Fine. But when the ghost of some crazy ghost woman murders you, you had better not come back and haunt me. I warned you! I warned you fair and square." He gave the car some gas.

Myka turned her head, hiding her smile behind her hand. She knew he didn't believe any of what he just said, but that's what made it fun being his partner. The things he could pull out of thin air!

He stopped a little too hard at the front door, keeping the headlights on the door. The left door was boarded up, but the right door had been broken into. Myka looked at him. He smiled.

"Ready to meet our maker?"

"Shut up." She got out and opened the back door. She grabbed a larger flashlight, secured her gun, and pulled on her jacket. She grabbed a spritz bottle from the box on the floor. She watched Pete do the same from the other side.

"Maybe you should watch less horror and more musicals."

"What!?"

She laughed some. Ready for artifact hunting, the two headed up the stairs to the front door. They climbed through the opening into a dark room. In the dark they couldn't see how large it was, but it felt large. Both turned on their flashlights. This was the main waiting room. It could hold a couple hundred people. The two paused, imagining for a moment what it had looked like when the hospital was functional.

The lines of chairs which had once made rows were pushed against one wall. There were signs that parties had been thrown here. In the center of the fire was a large burn mark with charred wood and a couple of the chairs sat amid the pile.

The two walked past that to the door at the back. They went through and walked into a hall. It ran both directions for most of the length of the building.

"So you know how in those horror movies they say let's split up?" Myka asked.

"Yeah?"

"Let's split up."

Pete turned to her. "Oh. So when I reference them you make fun of me. But when you reference them, we don't?"

"Make fun of you? No. Why?"

Pete laughed. It echoed against the walls. She smiled.

"Seriously, though, I don't want to be here all night. We should split up."

"Yeah. Right or left?" he asked her.

"I'm already on the left, so left it is."

"Right-o."

Myka walked three feet and stopped. "Oh. Pete."

He turned. She walked back to him, fishing a map from her coat pocket. "I made copies of the architectural plans for you. Try not to get lost. I also don't want to spend all night looking for you, either."

"I don't get lost."

She gave him a level look.

"Often."

She shook her head with a smile and turned back around. The two split up, heading in different directions.

#

Pete moved slowly from room to room. The building was so neglected that the plaster crumbled at the lightest touch. Every so often he'd pause at a room and imagine what may have happened in it – for some reason, he kept having visions of Silent Hill or something out of a Saw movie, or any one of a number of scenes from horror movies. It made him feel jovial; like he was playing a role in one of those movies.

"Ghosty, ghosty, ghosty," Pete called softly. "Come out and play." He smiled at his own joke.

He froze, feeling a breeze brush past his back. Pete turned. There was nothing there. That made his stomach tie a few knots. He started walking again and kept quiet. He felt he had enough adrenaline running through him without adding his own, unfounded fear to the mix.

But then… Why was he hearing plaster crunching right behind him with every step he took?

Pete swung around. The hall was empty. He heard a soft laughter and turned toward it. There was nothing there. His pulse sped up, but it was because he was sure whoever was doing this was very human and he was going to rip them a new one when he cornered them. Pete started walking, ignoring the crunching plaster. He moved into a room, looking for a good ambush spot. He finally found one two rooms down. There was a small aisle between two tall cupboards – a perfect place to set a trap.

Pete walked around the room until he was on one end of the aisle. He spun around and found nothing, then side stepped so his back was against the cupboard and he was facing the room, with the aisle to his left. He quickly switched off his flashlight and waited.

Something in the distance cracked. Far off he heard metal rolling – probably Myka. He slowed his breathing, listening for the breathing of the other person. Pete turned his head, hearing crunching in the aisle. When it was only a few feet from him, Pete stepped into the aisle to face the person and switched on his flashlight.

Reactively, his hand squeezed tightly around the flashlight. He found it hard to breathe but that didn't matter because he couldn't catch his breath anyway. His entire body broke out in a cold sweat. His mouth and then throat went dry. The beam of light shook.

The person stood in the beam of his light. He wore all black. His hands hung to his sides, with thick, disgusting fingernails. His skin was pale white and his veins were black and visible under it. His eyes were black pits that reflected nothing, not even the light. He expressed a huge grin like he and the devil were telling secrets. All of that Pete could have accepted and wouldn't have scared him. What did was that his pale, dead eyed, grinning face was Pete's own face.

"Hello, Pete," he crooned. "I've been _dying_ to meet you."

Before he could even run or yell a warning he hoped Myka would hear, the man lunged, turning into a cloud that enveloped Pete…

#

Myka stopped to look inside a display case. Somehow she'd found herself in the commissary. Given the state of the rest of the hospital, she was surprised to see most of the display cases were intact. She turned her head when she heard footsteps. The steps sounded like someone wearing high-heels walking at a brisk pace.

"Pete?"

The footsteps passed the room and suddenly stopped.

She brushed it off and went back to looking for anything like an artifact, and spritzing things that might be. This was turning into a long search.

She froze when hot air blew across her neck. It blew several more times in the seconds it took her to decide she was going to turn around and see what was standing right behind her.

When she did, she immediately regretted. She stared back at her own face, but everything about it was wrong. The skin was pale with black veins showing through. This woman wore black lipstick and eye shadow, giving her a gothic, and even deader, look. She was dressed in all black, but her top was tight, leaving no one to wonder if she was a woman. She smiled and there was nothing friendly about it.

"We're going to try a little experiment, Good Me," the woman told her with a growing grin, "and I promise, I'll enjoy every minute of it."

Myka reached for her gun. Her evil twin grabbed her wrist and then her hip, and they flew through the air. Evil Myka slammed her against the wall, knocking the wind out of Myka. She leaned in, her lips brushing Myka's cheek as she told her, "Let's play… God."

Myka screamed. Her clothes where Evil Myka held her hip began to smolder. A red ring expanded from the hand holding Myka's wrist. She wanted to pull away, but the pain was too much.

Light flashed in Myka's eyes and she felt electricity jolt through her body. The next thing she knew, Evil Myka was flying across the room and she was sliding to the floor with someone standing in front of her. She felt too weak to move. She looked up, watching Evil Myka move toward the person.

Evil Pete appeared in front of her, blocking her. He reached his hand back and around, pressing it against her crotch. She made a soft sound, grabbing his arms, and wilting against him. He grinned evilly.

"Enough, my dear, she's not the one," Evil Pete said.

"Damn straight," Pete told him. "Get out of here or I'll shock the heck out of you again."

"Oh. Is that the reason I let you go?"

"You know it was."

Evil Pete laughed. The two turned into smoke and disappeared into the dark hall. Pete turned, crouching next to Myka. He bushed hair out of her face and smiled when she focused on him.

"You still with me?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Pete helped her to her feet. She swayed and stumbled forward. He caught her and guided her into a chair. He crouched in front of her.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Myka shed a few tears because of the pain. She held her wrist up and he shined his light on the third degree burn shaped like a hand.

"I have another on my hip. She was burning me. And then I felt like I was being electrocuted."

Pete looked down at his hands, pumping them into fists.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

He looked up. "Yeah. I'm fine." She knew he was lying. "Let's go home."

"We haven't found the artifact yet. We can't—"

"Myka, whatever that was, whatever just attacked us, it isn't an artifact. It's the same thing Genna, Claudia, Steve, and Abigail described. We were lured here for some reason. There is no artifact."

She looked at her burned wrist. She nodded.

Pete stood up and gently pulled up on her elbow. She stood and they started walking back to the front door and the car.

"I have to tell you something," Myka told him.

"Okay. What?"

Myka looked down at the dark floor. "I wanted to tell you before, but Artie made a good case. We don't know how to help you, so why tell you? But I think after this, after tonight and what just happened, you should know."

"Is it bad?"

"Yes."

He drew in a breath. "Go."

She drew in a breath herself and began telling him about the day he let the dark cloud out of the genie vessel…

**Warehouse 13  
South Dakota**

"Artie, I need you to do me a favor," he heard Pete say from below.

Artie turned. He was half way up a movable ladder, trying to return an artifact to its spot. The artifact, however, wanted nothing to do with being returned to its spot. Artie looked at his watch, then looked down at Pete.

"Are you just getting back? It's two in the morning."

"No. We got back hours ago."

"Where's the artifact?"

"There was no artifact. Artie, I need this favor from you."

"What favor?"

"If I start doing something weird, or strange, or peculiar, again, don't hide it from me. Just tell me."

Artie was caught off guard. "I… Wha… What are we talking about?"

"You knew about me going into a trance or something and taking genie vessels outside and letting things from them go. I know you thought you were protecting me, but if I'd known about it, I could have been prepared for what happened last night and protected Myka better.

"What happened? And where is the artifact I sent you two after?"

"There was no artifact, Artie. It was a trap set up by Evil Pete and—"

"Who is Evil Pete?"

"A guy that looks like me but dead and grins like a lunatic all the time. Didn't Claudia and Steve tell you they saw him in Prague? I know Abigail didn't tell you, because she admitted tonight I was the first person she was telling that this thing attacked her too."

"No, they just said they were attacked. Did you look for the artifact?"

Pete sighed, curbing his temper. "Yes. Artie. We looked for the artifact. Right before we were ambushed. We ran into an evil version of me and of Myka. Evil Myka attacked our Myka and gave her third degree burns before I got to her. They also attacked Steve and Claudia, and Evil Pete cornered Abigail one night at the bed and breakfast. Each time, he's said they weren't the one. He's looking for something, but I don't know what, and I am fairly certain this guy is one of the evil things I let out of a genie vessel. Which brings us right back to my initial favor request. I can't help feeling that if I'd known what was happening to me beforehand, I could have protected her better, we wouldn't have split up like we did, and I would have expected something to happen."

"And maybe not," Artie retorted haughtily.

"Artie, this is my life and you can't protect me all the time. Promise me you won't do it again?"

"No. No I won't promise that." Artie turned around and tried putting the artifact back. It popped right back out at him.

"Artie, please?"

Artie tried again.

"I won't promise that. If I think it's in your best interest to protect you, I will do it again and again."

Pete started up the stairs. He pulled gloves from his back pocket and pulled them on. Artie tried not to make it obvious that he was a little wary of Pete.

"Artie, you have to let us grow up sometime."

Artie didn't respond. Pete sighed.

Artie tried to put the artifact back again. When it popped out this time Pete caught the artifact. He held one hand above it and Artie saw a small shock zap the artifact. Pete placed the artifact in its spot and it didn't move this time. The two stared at it.

"You just shocked the artifact, Pete."

"Yeah. Just one of many questions I don't have an answer for right now." Pete turned to him. "Two can play your game, Artie." He started down the stairs, pulling off his gloves.

"What does that mean?"

"We'll talk when I have answers, Artie."

"Answers for what? Where are you going to find answers, Pete?"

Pete waved as he turned a corner. "Later, Artie."

Artie turned back to his work. He trotted down the steps and pushed the stairs toward the next location.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Bed and Breakfast**  
**South Dakota**

"Pete," Abigail said, knocking on his bedroom door.

There was no answer. She knocked again. "Pete?"

Still, no answer.

She opened the door and stared at the empty room. She turned and ran to Myka's door. Tired and still under the influence of Vicodin for the pain from the burns, Myka fell asleep with her clothes still on and holding the strap of her carryon bag. Abigale shook her shoulder.

"Myka. Myka wake up," Abigail said

Groggily Myka obeyed.

"Do you know where Pete is? Did he tell you?" Abigail asked.

Myka was awake instantly. She leapt out of bed and ran into his room. She stared at the empty bed that was still made – Pete hadn't gone to bed the previous night.

"Damnit Pete! Do not tell me you did this alone!" Myka growled. She ran back to her room and grabbed her cell phone. Abigail trailed behind her, watching with worry. "Artie! Pete's gone. No, I don't know— He—" She hesitated. "He what?" Myka slapped away a tear as she listened. She hung up, staring at nothing.

"What did he say?" Abigail asked.

"Pete was there this morning. Artie said he told him good-bye and that he was going to look for answers."

"That's good, Myka."

"You don't know how he gets when he gets tunnel vision. He stops listening to his gut, he won't listen to any reason. Sometimes Pete needs saved from himself!" Myka turned and trotted down the stairs

**Ancient Streets**  
**Rome, Italy**

The tourist side of Rome was miles from Pete. He was in an old part of the city following, a hand drawn map. He had confronted Mister Ramey at the U.S. Consulate to try to persuade him into helping him find The Circle. Just when it looked like Pete wasn't going to get the help he needed, the man received a phone call on a cell phone. After a few minutes of listening but no talking, he hung up and drew Pete a map. Followed by a terse order to leave and not come back.

Pete looked at the signs on the buildings, searching for one in particular. He stopped, staring at a poster that half hid an old sign. He pulled it down to reveal the sign. He compared it to his map – the name of the alley it pointed to was on his map. He turned into it, watching the doorways as he approached and passed them. He pulled his phone from his pocket when it started buzzing. Myka's picture appeared. He ended the call and his phone revealed he had 42 missed calls, twice that in text messages, and 31 voicemails.

Pete came around a bend in the alley and found a young Japanese woman standing in the center of the alley. He stopped. She didn't appear threatening. She didn't wear or hold anything that made him suspicious of her. The two stared at each other for minutes. She smiled.

"Pete Lattimer."

It wasn't a question, but he answered anyway. "Yeah."

She waved him toward her and then walked away. She looked back over her shoulder, motioning him to follow her. Pete was a little leery about following her, but he did.

His phone started ringing again. The woman led him in and out of streets and alleys until she stopped at a gate and unlocked it. She motioned for him to go down the stairs. Pete stopped at the gate, looking down the stairs beyond it. The steps reached a landing and turned to disappear under a building. He looked back at her.

His phone started ringing.

"Where do the stairs go?" Pete asked.

In English thick with a Japanese accent she told him, "To the answers you've come for."

That wasn't a reassuring answer. "What answers?" he asked.

She only motioned him down the stairs. His phone started ringing again. Pete started down the stairs. He glanced back when he heard the gate shut. The Japanese woman was gone and he was certain the gate locked behind him. He kept walking down stairs.

Pete stopped on the landing. The light difference between the daylight and the darkness beyond made the stairs disappear out of sight.

His phone started ringing again. Pete pulled it out, staring at Myka's picture. He let it go to voicemail. Pete pulled up a text message and told her: _When I have answers, I'll come home. See you soon_. He sent it and started down the stairs.

At the bottom of the steps, he found a man sitting on the second to last step. The man didn't stand as Pete walked past and stopped at the bottom of the steps. A tunnel continued. It looked ancient and the lights along the side were strung with an old power cable. The tunnel ran straight and then down a slope.

Pete looked back at the man. The man had light brown hair, cut short and neat, brilliant blue eyes, an afternoon shadow across his chin and cheeks, looked about Pete's age, and was thin as a rail. As he stood, his muscles flexed. Pete noticed his hands were calloused. This man was familiar to hard work and probably much stronger than he appeared. He wore a faded red T-shirt, jeans, and worn sneakers.

"Pete Lattimer." He had a German accent.

Again, it wasn't a question, but Pete nodded anyway.

"You cause problems, know that?"

Pete didn't reply.

"Come on. We've been expecting you."

Being honest with himself, Pete was having doubts. He hesitated, looking back up the stairs. Pete jumped when a hand clamped down on his shoulder and turned. The German was standing behind him. He smiled.

"You didn't come all this way to run off, did you?" he asked.

Pete didn't answer. He wasn't sure if he had or hadn't.

"Is it because of the warnings? Because we turned your partner and friend into genies?"

"That has something to do with it."

He smiled, clapping Pete's shoulder. Pete guessed he wasn't very aware of his own strength because each clap stung a little.

"I'm one of the Elders in The Circle, but I don't look it, right?"

Pete shook his head.

The German leaned in, shaking a finger at Pete's face. "You were doing a good thing, Pete. We had no problem with that. But something else was going on. Somehow the bad that's left behind was getting out, and that we had to stop before it was too late. You understand, don't you?"

Pete was shaking his head before he answered. "I don't understand a damned thing."

The German nodded once with a smile. "And that's why you're here, so swallow your fear. Markus wants to meet with you. He has questions for you, you have questions for him; it works out in the end for everyone. Come on then."

The German turned and walked down the hall.

Pete drew a slow breath. He fell in behind the German.

**Warehouse 13**  
**South Dakota**

It took one text to send everyone scrambling to get back to the Warehouse office: 'Who wants to know why I disappeared? –Pete.'

As they converged in the office they found him sharing a ham and cheese sandwich with Trailer.

"Where the hell did you disappear to?" Myka demanded.

"You can't just take off and not tell anyone, Pete," Artie told him.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?" Steve said.

Pete didn't react to the onslaught of scolding and relief from his foster family. He just smiled and listened, feeding bites of his sandwich to Trailer until it was all gone. Then he looked up and continued listening with a smile.

Eventually the talking faded away.

"Why?" Artie asked "Why did you disappear?"

"I had to find out what was happening to me. I told you, Artie, you have to let us grow up eventually. I needed answers and I guessed right that the only way to get them was to go alone. I don't think the Circle would have let me in if anyone had gone with me." Pete sat back on the couch and Trailer jumped up, curling up next to his best friend at the moment. Pete gave him a pat. "The answers turned out to be some good, some bad." Pete waved his hand at them. "Make a space." He added sarcastically. "You're gonna love this."

The parted a space. Pete held his hand still, a finger pointing at a pile of papers. Electricity leapt from his finger and exploded the papers, catching a couple on fire. Steve was quick to run over and stomp the fires out, but once they were, even he turned to stare at Pete. He sighed, resting his hand on his leg.

"So there's that," Pete told them. "In that asylum, when I saw Evil Myka hurting Myka, before I grabbed her electricity came out of my hands and literally blew her away. I thought I was imagining that. I wasn't."

Myka sat down on Pete's other side, staring at the hand. They all had to find seats and wrap their heads around the information.

Myka asked him, "Where did it come from? Is it an artifact?"

"It came from when I released Genna. A lot more happened than me just turning into an artifact."

Artie leaned forward on his legs. "But how? How did this happen?"

"There's something not human that makes genies, although The Circle doesn't know what it is, just how to evoke it. But when a human releases a genie without a tawiz amulet this thing rewards them, but it has to turn them into an artifact to do it. Then they are given longevity and a psychic ability that fits them. They didn't know how that was decided or why I ended up with electricity."

"Longevity?" Claudia asked. "Does that mean you can or can't die?"

"I can die, yeah, but not from common things like disease, poison, infections. I'd need to be fatally shot or stabbed, beheaded, bleed out, things like that. And that's the end of the good news."

Pete paused to yawn and rub his eyes. He let out a long sigh before he continued. "When a human is changed into a genie the soul can't be changed into a genie, but both the genie and the soul have to be placed in the vessel. So the light the genies are seeing are the good part of their soul, that's why some describe the light smaller than others - they weren't so good when they went in. While the dark, is the bad part of their soul, and it wants to get out and cause hell. When a genie is released, the soul must go back to them. The light and those shades of light and dark go too, but that darkest evil stays behind; like sand in water. But it doesn't want to stay there and it will call the human that released the genie to release it too."

"Evil Pete is that evil but from where?" Artie asked. "You were never a genie."

"I asked that too. They told me that sometimes someone who lets a genie go is _unique_ and they attract these evil souls like a lighthouse. Usually, though, not enough genies are released to causes too much trouble and the Circle can help the person. But… I released twenty-seven of them." Pete let his head droop and his eyes almost closed.

"We can talk more in the morning," Artie offered. "You can barely stay awake, Pete."

Pete shook his head. "I gotta tell you everything. I came straight home to tell you everything."

"So what does this Evil Pete want with you?" Myka asked.

"These things can possess humans like demons. They start by wearing the person down to make them vulnerable, like a _disease_, and then… They think he wants to destroy humanity and use me to do that. Remember that whole unique human comes along part? Well… there's that. They said I'd be like a miniature planet bomb if he gets a hold of me." With a slight shake of his head, Pete quietly added. "They also can't help me – the most they've ever stopped was five or six, not twenty-seven."

"Are you saying…" Steve leaned in, staring at Pete. "We're on our own to figure out how to stop these things? They had no advise, no weapons, nothing?"

Pete lifted his tired eyes, staring at Steve. Slowly he nodded. Steve looked at everyone – he wanted to say something but he didn't even know what to say.

"Go home and get some sleep, Pete," Artie told him. "He's not coming for you tonight. He's still looking for someone for some reason and he hasn't found that person."

Pete closed his eyes. "I am so sorry."

"For what?"

"Genna was just a little girl and I… I'm sorry for starting this."

Myka slid her arms around him, hugging him.

"This wasn't your fault, Pete," Artie told him. "There are a lot of things none of us knew would happen. But now we fix it. We fix it like we always do."

Pete looked at him. That's when Artie saw it. Pete wasn't just exhausted, he was hopeless.

Artie found himself worrying that Pete, who was always the most optimistic of the group, had lost hope. It left a cold stone in Artie's stomach to think Pete may be teetering on the edge of his personal rock bottom because Artie knew that the last time that had happened. His agent fell into a bottle, came close to dying before he found his way back out, and nearly destroyed his career. Artie made Pete a silent promise in that moment. He would keep his agent safe from his evil doppelgänger, and himself, no matter what it took.

_The End_


End file.
